Example embodiments of the inventive concepts described herein relate to a semiconductor memory, and more particularly, to a storage device, a user device including the storage device, and an operating method of the user device.
Semiconductor memory devices may be classified into volatile memory devices, which lose data stored therein at power-off, such as a static random access memory (SRAM), a dynamic RAM (DRAM), and a synchronous DRAM, and nonvolatile memory devices, which retain data stored therein even at power-off, such as a read only memory (ROM), a programmable ROM (PROM), an electrically programmable ROM (EPROM), an electrically erasable and programmable ROM (EEPROM), a flash memory device, a phase-change RAM (PRAM), a magnetic RAM (MRAM), a resistive RAM (RRAM), and a ferroelectric RAM (FRAM).
Flash memory devices are being widely used as mass storage in computing systems. A flash memory-based large-capacity storage medium uses a buffer memory, such as a DRAM or an SRAM, to compensate for a difference between a program speed of the flash memory device and an interfacing speed of the computing system. However, since the buffer memory occupies a large area of the storage medium, to increase the capacity of the buffer memory causes an increase in costs. Accordingly, there is a need for devices or methods for reducing the size of the buffer memory and improving the performance of the large-capacity storage medium.